of the 50 not available, 9 families could not be
traced, and 41 families refused to be interviewed for
unspecified reasons.

not one female was deemed to be gay/bisexual, or having
has sex with a female.

3 males deemed to be homosexual; one having proclaimed
his gay nature, and 2 having been homosexually active.

1 male, not classified to be homosexual, committed
suicide with one of the homosexual male victim. Both
were found dead holding hands. Classified only as a
friend of gay teenagers.

5 other males "known to be close friends of other gay
teenagers."

3 males "reported to have been effeminate in their
behavior," not classified to be homosexual, plus the
only gay suicide victim. Total: 4 effeminate male victims
of suicide.

83 males with no information which could lead
researchers to suspect they were gay/bisexual, or had
homosexual experiences. Therefore considered heterosexual
unless proven otherwise.

145 male and female controls studied, obtained from
random sampling of 196, with 49 refusing to participate
in the study. The number of males in the controls was not
given but is assumed to be about 100 given the
matching process used.

the method used to discover if a suicide victims were
gay or bisexual and/or if they ever had same-gender sex
consisted of asking:

"a parent or other adult member of the household in
which the victim was living at the time of death;"

"either a sibling or a friend from the victim's peer
group nominated by the parent or caretaker;"

"at least one school teacher (and, more usually three)
nominated by the school principal as being well
informed about the subject's classroom
behavior."(104)

The fact that the Shaffer et al.(1995) researchers did not obtain any
"homosexuality" information from the 145 control teenagers in the
study suggests that they were not skilled in obtaining such taboo
information from teenagers. Studies reveal that at least 5% of male
teenagers would be in the "homosexuality" categories
investigated(88,105).
As noted in Appendix A, however, these studies
suffer from problems of methodology, such as concealment occurring at
rates which produce significant underestimates of the degree to which
"homosexuality" exists in the male population.

With respect to the assumed 100 control males studied,
statistically some of them should have reported having had
same-sex experiences. Bagley(1994) reported that 6 percent of
males in the Bagley et al.(1994) sample had experienced repeated
but unwanted sexual experiences with a man before the age of 15
(which is average for the male population), with another 8 to 10
percent reporting such experiences as a one-time event.
Bagley(1994) also reported that 3% of males had been consensually
and repeatedly sexually involved with at least one man before the
age of 15.27
Overlapping with these respondents were another 5% of
males having sexual experiences with at least one other male
approximately their own age before the age of 15. Therefore, from
the Shaffer et al.(1995) random sampling for about 100 males, a
minimum of 12% (about 12 males) should have reported same-sex
experiences as either wanted (6%) and unwanted (6%). None of the
control males, however, reported having had any same-gender
sexual experiences.

With respect to the 95 adolescent males who committed suicide, only
3 were deemed to meet the criteria set by the researchers, either
revealing their gay identity to others (one case), or having had
same-gender sex. The methods used to determine such facts about a
teenage boy, however, are faulty. I was homosexually active from the
age of 5 to 19 with neither parents or teachers knowing anything about
this. If I had committed suicide, my friends would never have never
revealed what was happening between us sexually. To do this would have
required them to admit their own involvement, and only highly skilled
researcher could have obtained the required information from them;
likewise if the situation was reversed and information was being
culled from me if a friend I was having sex with had committed
suicide. The Shaffer et. al.(1995) researchers do not appear to have
such skills.

Uribe & Harbeck(1992) reported that most of the males in their
sample of 37 high school gay/bisexual males, "did what they could to
conceal their homosexuality because to affirm it was too painful. They
devised elaborate concealment strategies, and the result of these
strategies was to cripple them emotionally and socially...
Thirty-five out of 37 were homosexually active when interviewed, and
had been since the average age of 14. For the majority, their first
sexual experiences were "with unknown
males"(37:19-22).
I have also found such behaviour to be common enough in Calgary with
gay boys who
were terrified of having their homosexual identity discovered by their
classmates, friends, siblings, teachers, and especially their parents.

What, therefore, could a researcher have done to discover that one
such teenage males was homosexually active if he had committed
suicide? Ask his parents? His teachers? And what if the teacher or
counsellor knows the truth because he was having sex with the boys?
Would a friend designated by his parents know? I doubt it. And if so,
will the friend talk? Obviously, before doing their study, the Shaffer
et al.(1995) researchers did not do their homework.

To date, researchers still have not asked gay/bisexual male
teenagers who made suicide attempts rated in the "moderate to high
lethality" category questions like:

If you had died, would your parents or teachers have
known that you were gay and homosexually active? Would a
friend whom your parents had told a researcher to talk to
have known the truth about you? If so, do you think this
person would have revealed your secret to anyone?

If you had died, is there a way that a good investigator
could have obtained the information needed to prove
that you were gay or bisexual, and maybe homosexually
active?

The results of such questions would certainly have given the Shaffer
researchers an estimate of the margin of error they could expect by
using their method of determining the "homosexual" designation for
suicide victims. This margin of error could have also permitted them
to estimate the actual percentage of homosexual male suicide victims.
Instead, the researchers concluded that, on the basis of the 3 suicide
victims proven to be gay and/or homosexually active, the "study finds
no evidence that suicide is a common characteristic of gay youth."(104:64) Without doubt, Shaffer et. al., failed
in one of the "overarching principles" listed in the same volume of
SLTB in which their study was published. "Researchers must know the
community they are studying."(106:83)

Far more troubling, however, is the conclusion: "...that when
suicide does occur among gay teenagers, that it is not a direct
consequence of stigmatization or lack of
support."(104:64) This conclusion is based
only on three
suicides of known homosexual male teenagers and is equivalent to
concluding - from the Bagley(1994) result indicating 3 homosexually
active gay/bisexual males who had attempted suicide, of which 2 had
been sexually abused - that gay and bisexual males primarily attempt
suicide because of being sexually abused as children. Or,
alternatively, that they do not attempt suicide for a particular
reason because the factor was not present. The only conclusion which
can be made from the Bagley(1994) data is related to the percentage of
young adult males who were homosexually active as young adults and had
attempted suicide during their youth.

Anything significant about the possible factors related to the
suicide attempts for gay or bisexual males - such as a particular
problem or the cumulative effects of many interrelated problems -
must be studied by obtaining a large enough representative sample
of homosexually active gay and bisexual males who have attempted
suicide. Only with such samples can the statistical significance
or insignificance of postulated factors be determined.

Finally, the Shaffer et al.(1995) study produced four victims in
the effeminate category. Remafedi et al.(1991) reported that
effeminate gay males were three times more likely to attempt suicide
than other gay males(31), thus confirming
what gay males have always known. Effeminate males, since early
childhood, receive the brunt of society's hatred for gay males, and
are therefore the most stigmatized of all male youth. They are also
strongly suspected to be homosexually oriented, even though Shaffer
et. al opposed this conclusion.

The Bell & Weinberg(1981) study did not have one heterosexual
male in their sample rate themselves in the 0 to 2 category on a 0-6
feminine to masculine scale, while 28% of predominantly gay males gave
themselves this "label" for the period defined to be "while you were
growing up."(113:75) This study also
determined that gender nonconformity was the most distinguihing
feature between gay and heterosexual
males(22:79-81). In the 1987 Sissy Boy Syndrome
study, the 44 "feminine" boys studied over many years became young
adult men with a 75% probability of being gay or bisexual, as rated by
the Kinsey 0-6 fantasy/behaviour scale. A control group of 35
"conventionally 'masculine' boys" only produced one young adult male
in the bisexual category(115:99-101).

Therefore, noticeably effeminate males are most likely gay, or they
may be (mostly heterosexual) transvestites or transsexuals who form a
very small percentage of the male population. That 4 out of the 95
male suicide victims were effeminate suggests that these male are at
much higher risk for suicide than other males. Shaffer et al.(1995)
were nonetheless silent about this, even if it was noted that not one
of the males in the control group was rated to be "abnormally
effeminate" using the same scale used to define victims to have been
effeminate(104:70).